


Lilies For Sleepless Nights, Orchids For 'Thank-You's

by OmegaZandie



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Be patient, I REGRET NOTHING, I'm crying, M/M, Nothing much happens, apartment au?, flowers and stuff, homophobia from family if you squint, like really squint, literal fluff, nothing but fluff, sequel coming, talking through walls?, this was rushed i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 13:03:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9325307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OmegaZandie/pseuds/OmegaZandie
Summary: 'we live in adjacent apartments and our bedrooms are on opposite sides of a very thin wall and one night I heard you crying and talked to you through the wall' auI have no proper description for this yet, oops





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I wrote this based off of a 'we live in adjacent apartments and our bedrooms are on opposite sides of a very thin wall and one night I heard you crying and talked to you through the wall' au I saw earlier.  
> Literally nothing interesting happens and it's pretty shit but I'm still crying help me  
> Ignore the hella long title oops

Life so far had gone pretty smoothly for Mingyu. His home was comfortable, his parents raised him with little to no issues; they didn't argue, they didn't divorce and he rarely got into trouble with them. His school life was relatively calm too; he got good grades, he had a steady group of friends and he occasionally acquired a girlfriend which never lasted long but was pleasant anyway. Mingyu's life was easy. Even when he was told in order to get into the college he wanted, he would either have to travel daily - something a student could not easily afford - or, he would have to move out, Mingyu didn't mind.

So, after graduation, off he went to find his own place. And he found a good suitor rather quickly; a neat little one bedroom, one bathroom apartment, only a ten minute commute to and from the college by foot. He fell in love as soon as he opened the door. The apartment was quietly stacked away on the third floor of the block with an open living space and kitchen presenting as soon as you entered. With a little help from his parents, Mingyu was surprisingly quickly able to draw up the funds and buy out a few months rent for the apartment.

His parents had helped him pack and now that it had been a few weeks since the first payment had been made, Mingyu found himself hauling box after box into the apartment; some being dumped in the kitchen, some in the bedroom and a few on the living room floor. The apartment had been pretty much empty, void of anything that wasn't a bare essential, when he initially bought it; only a couch, bed and small bookcase filled the separate rooms along with a desk and some other various pieces of furniture which Mingyu was grateful not to have to buy himself, so when his parents pulled out enough money to buy him a television of his own, on top of lending him for the apartment as it was, Mingyu almost cried.

After spending the entire day unpacking boxes, sorting through various items of clutter that, honestly, he didn't need but took anyway, and greeting his new neighbours, Mingyu was whacked. It was edging on for midnight by the time he reached the last box but he was determined to finish unpacking before bed. So there he was, sat on the floor of the living room, with a cup of lukewarm tea by his side, unpacking his last box; it was full of books, mainly science fiction novels, the occasional romance here and there. Deciding it best to unpack them in his room, where the wobbly, most likely weak bookcase stood, Mingyu hoisted up the box, balancing his cup on top and began padding through to the bedroom.

The bedroom wasn't big, however it was spacious enough to house a bed, a desk and a bookcase along side the wardrobe, so Mingyu couldn't really complain. Even if the first warning he got before forking out the money was _'the walls are really thin'_ which everyone understood without any further elaboration on the matter. He wasn't one to bring company back home anyway, so unless his new neighbours were absolute sex gods, Mingyu thought he wouldn't have many issues.

So it came as a shock when instead of hearing the rampant thumping of a headboard at quarter to midnight, Mingyu could hear faint sobs coming from the next apartment. Unsure of what to do, he continued to unpack his books and let his neighbour be, after all, he thought, he wouldn't want his new neighbour turning up at his door asking him to _cry quietly._ And anyway, it wasn't like he was planning to sleep anytime soon.

He did, however, find himself curious, concerned even. He wanted to know what was wrong, what could possibly keep someone up until midnight in tears, he wanted to help. But how exactly would he help? He wasn't sure. He couldn't turn up at the door announcing "hey, I heard you crying from the other side of the wall and wanted to know what's up" because that would just be _creepy._ So, for the moment, Mingyu decided to just wait it out, see if they stopped crying, and if they didn't, then he would try something.

He waited. He waited until he had finished unpacking his books, until he was dressed for bed and ready to sleep. Checking the clock, Mingyu realised it was now nearly half past midnight, and his neighbour was still crying. With a sigh, he plopped himself down by the wall, debating what to do. It took him a moment, and he knew it was a slightly unorthodox way of going about it, but he came up with a plan.

He knocked on the wall.

The crying stopped for a moment, followed by a sniffle and what sounded like someone shifting on a bed. After a few minutes of silence on both parts, when there was another sniffle from the other, Mingyu decided to speak.

"Hi.. Uh, I mean, are you okay?" Mingyu started softly, stuttering over his words, unsure what to say. There was a pause again and Mingyu knew his neighbour had heard him. He was about to give up and walk away when there was a cough from the other side, as if someone was clearing their throat,

"Hi.." Came the hushed reply and Mingyu had to lean against the wall to hear it. The voice was male, timid and it cracked slightly. He was genuinely surprised the walls were thin enough to hear each other through.

"Are you okay?" Mingyu asked again, he didn't want to push the poor guy, he was lucky enough to get a reply that wasn't more sobbing, but he wanted to be sure, and some selfish part of him wanted to get some peace in order to sleep. But that part of him wasn't very dominant. The reply didn't take long this time, and it was about half as audible as the last, but if the broken cry that came from the other side of the wall wasn't answer enough, then Mingyu must have been stupid.

"Hey, hey, I'm here if you want to talk about it" Mingyu offered and the crying ceased again for a short moment, he must have been thinking about it, but again, the silence lasted a little too long for Mingyu to take the answer as confirmation, so he stayed put and waited a little longer, "I can come over and you could tell me what's wrong if you want?"

There was an audible hitch in his neighbour's breath, almost like a gasp, and Mingyu decided that the idea wasn't being met with any amount of enthusiasm

"N-no! Please don't!" The almost shrieked plea was enough for Mingyu to know the guy didn't want to open up just yet.

"Okay, don't worry, that's okay. I'll just stay here." It was soft as Mingyu tried to be comforting, "What's your name? I'm Mingyu, I just moved in today." He offered, trying to get the guy to speak. He learned quickly that his neighbour wasn't nearly as trusting as himself, which was understandable considering he had just spent close to the last hour in tears.

"Wonwoo.. I'm Wonwoo" Again, it was hushed and Mingyu was grateful the boy had repeated himself as he pressed his ear further against the wall.

"Alright, hi Wonwoo. Do you want to talk to me, or will you be okay now?" A small smile spread across Mingyu's lips when he heard his neighbour hiccup softly as he started his sentence, he stopped for a second, and then tried again,

"C-could you stay? Just for a while..." Mingyu's smile grew, it wasn't a smile of happiness, no, he was glad, relieved his neighbour wanted to talk out his issues instead of keeping them both awake either out of worry or misery, "I mean, if it's not too much.."

"Of course, don't want you alone now, do we?" Wonwoo could probably hear the smile in his voice and somehow, Mingyu felt the tension between them relax a little when the other boy let out a weak 'thanks', "so, do you want to talk about what's upsetting you?" Mingyu suspected it would be a long shot due to Wonwoo's earlier reluctance, but tried anyway.

"Could we t-talk about something else?"  Mingyu sighed to himself, no luck. But at least Wonwoo was talking and not crying anymore, so that was a plus.

"Sure" He assured, wracking his brains of anything to say, but ultimately, he could only come up with one thing,

"So, tell me about yourself, Wonwoo."

Mingyu learned over the next two hours that Wonwoo was a year older than him at aged twenty. He learned Wonwoo had been living in the apartment block for just under a year after his parents kicked him out - he seemed reluctant to go into any detail about it, which Mingyu understood. He learned Wonwoo liked music, he didn't like coffee, his favourite colour was blue and his favourite flowers were lilies, Mingyu told him he agreed with Wonwoo, but his favourite flowers were orchids and his favourite colour was red. Wonwoo told him he worked at a local music store and that he could play guitar, although he was jealous of his friend, Jihoon's, ability to play piano.

Wonwoo seemed to be calmer by the time the conversation came to a natural end, and Mingyu was relieved. The two sat in comfortable silence for a while and Mingyu was glad his neighbour was okay. After bidding their goodbyes for the night, the two set off for bed in their separate apartments. Mingyu could hear Wonwoo humming to himself as he climbed under the sheets, another small smile spread across his lips as he closed his eyes. He was glad Wonwoo wasn't crying anymore.

The next day, Mingyu spent the entire morning and afternoon dragging himself through an overcrowded shopping center to stock up on supplies; food, pillows, toilet roll, extra mugs and plates along with some new cutlery that wasn't plastic. Mingyu bought out almost the entire store, and by the time he got home, his arms were aching and his head was throbbing.

His mind had wandered back to Wonwoo throughout the day, wondering how he was getting on, if he was feeling any better. He considered going to check up on him after he unpacked his shopping once he got home, but his jumbled thoughts were soon directed someplace else as he spotted some extra puffy pillows which he'd been eyeing up for a while, and after that, his thoughts stayed away from Wonwoo for the rest of the day. It wasn't until he reached his front door that Mingyu remembered about his neighbour. It wasn't until he spotted the single potted orchid sat outside his door, that he remembered their conversation.

Once inside, Mingyu looked at the plant properly, noticing a small card tucked into the soil. He picked it up, it read,

 _Mingyu,_  
_You said you liked orchids and this is my way of saying thank you._  
_Maybe I could get a chance to say it in person over a non-coffee date?_  
_Wonwoo_

Mingyu beamed, walking through to his bedroom. He knocked on the wall again - why he didn't just go to the boy's door, he didn't know - and waited for Wonwoo to reply. It took a few moments and Mingyu wanted to hit himself, how did he know Wonwoo was even home? How did he know this wasn't possibly the weirdest way to accept a date in the history of dates?

"Mingyu?" A rough voice spoke and Mingyu was shocked. Surely this wasn't the same man he spoke to last night? Last night Wonwoo seemed so timid, so broken, but now his voice was rich and powerful, confident. Mingyu chewed his lip before replying.

"I uh, I got your.. Uh.. Yes?" It was more of a question and Mingyu heard Wonwoo chuckle on the other side of the wall.

"See you tomorrow at three?" Wonwoo waited for a reply, Mingyu wasn't sure what exactly his reply should be, croaking out the first thing to come to mind and mentally smacking himself afterwards

"You said you like lilies, right?"  Another chuckle from Wonwoo, Mingyu felt his cheeks flush

"I did"

"Great, I'll see you then"

"See you then"

**Author's Note:**

> I apologise for the crappy ending, I was really struggling with how to finish it without dragging it on further ;o;  
> I'm considering writing a sequel to this so if you're up for that then please ask, any feedback is hugely appreciated!


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